N. Korea condemns S. Korea for releasing transcript of inter-Korean summit

North Korea launched into a tirade Thursday against South Korea's recent declassification of a transcript of an inter-Korean summit in 2007.

A North Korean agency handling inter-Korean affairs accused the South's conservative forces of attempting to use the secret documents for political purposes and further undermine summit deals on inter-Korean reconciliation between then-leaders Roh Moo-hyun and Kim Jong-il.

"The group's unilateral opening to public the summit minutes without approval of the north is a mockery of the dignity of its supreme leadership and a grave provocation to the dialogue partner," the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea (CPRK) said in a English-version statement carried by the communist nation's official news agency, KCNA.

Earlier this week, the National Intelligence Service (NIS), South Korea's top state spy agency, released a verbatim transcript of the Roh-Kim meeting despite strong resistance from the main opposition party.

According to the transcript, Roh proposed a Yellow Sea peace zone to replace the Northern Limit Line (NLL), the de-facto sea border between the two sides. The controversial line is a legacy of the 1950-53 Korean War, which ended in a ceasefire, not a formal peace treaty.

The North has long sought to nullify the NLL, while South Koreans believe it should be kept until a lasting peace mechanism is established on the peninsula.

South Korea's conservatives insist the NLL is not a topic for any negotiations with the North. Some lawmakers demanded the transcript's release amid continued controversy over Roh's stance on the NLL.

Members of the liberal Democratic Party say the late president was focusing on a broader peace vision, rather than moving to give up the line.

The North Korean committee described the NLL as a "bogus line."

"As far as the issue of the 'northern limit line' in the West Sea touted by the conservative group is concerned, it is a bogus line because even its architect American master recognized it as an illegal one. It is, therefore, preposterous to vociferate about its 'defence' and 'preservation,'" it argued.

It accused the South Korean intelligence body of making public the minutes in order to distract public attention from its alleged intervention in the 2012 presidential elections.

"By origin, the summit minutes are handled as top secret in any country and they have been strictly kept secret as 'minutes of president' in South Korea, too," the committee said.

Related to the North's latest attacks, South Korea's Ministry of Unification said that while Seoul does not feel the need to react to every statement released by the communist country, it called on Pyongyang to stop making threatening remarks that are not constructive to cross-border relations.

"The North's latest statement is regrettable," an official told reporters.

North Korean watchers here also said that the release of the minutes will adversely affect inter-Korean relations in the near future.

Yang Moo-jin, a political scientist at the University of North Korean Studies, said the CPRK statements makes it clear that Pyongyang does not trust the Park Geun-hye administration's trust-building policy. The policy is the cornerstone of Seoul's North Korean engagement policy.

"Judging by the North's stance it does not seem likely South-North talks will take place any time soon," the scholar said.

Others said that the North may use the release of the transcripts, which can be viewed as a breech in diplomatic protocol, as an excuse not to hold talks with the South. The country has come under pressure, particularly from China, to hold talks that diffuse tensions on the Korean Peninsula.

On the other hand, an official source argued that there is no reason to conclude that inter-Korean relations have broken down completely.

"The North in the past engaged in talks it if felt the need to do so regardless of circumstances," he claimed, adding that Pyongyang will weigh the timing for holding talks.

The two Koreas had agreed to hold high-level talks earlier this month to resolve outstanding issues such as the resumption of normal operations at the Kaesong Industrial Complex, but this meeting was canceled at the last minute over disagreements over the appropriate rank on chief candidates. (Yonhap News)